John Duran has worked with signs for 35 years, the last 10 years as a Signs Specialist in FM’s Signs and Graphics department. He said he delights in fulfilling his customers’ needs and finds the details of his work interesting. “I enjoy working at the U and meeting lots of different people, seeing different areas and learning about what other people do,” he said.

John took art classes at St. Paul’s Minnesota School of Art and started his trade in a Holiday gas station sign shop. He said that one thing which surprised him is that he is a better book keeper than he thought he would be. He also finds the book keeping portion of his job to be a good challenge.

In his free time John enjoys fishing at his cabins, painting and reading. When he retires he said he’d like to be a cook. John admires his wife who is also one of his co-workers. “She is one heck of an artist; she does line drawings and layouts and has an eye for signs.”

Central Services Associate District Director Bill O’Neill said, “John Doran is an individual who brings to his job a set of skills that guarantees success in his job assignments. John’s ability to combine those skills has been an asset to FM and the University of Minnesota. He leads the Signs and Graphics implementation team for R&R funded activities and can communicate where a project is on a moments notice. John is the University of Minnesota and Driven to Discover every working day.”